Breakthrough Microneedle Patch Could Bring At-Home Skin Cancer Testing to Your Medicine Cabinet

A painless microneedle patch developed by Michigan Engineering researchers offers a potential game-changer for early melanoma detection—no clinic visits, needles, or biopsies required. Led by Professor Sunitha Nagrath, the patch collects skin fluid and delivers results in under 15 minutes. Successfully tested on mice, it's now on track for human trials.

“The star-shaped needles make puncture easier and less painful, but they are so small that they only go through the top-most layer of the skin, the epidermis, and do not draw blood,” said Sunitha Nagrath  , the Dwight F. Benton Professor of Chemical Engineering at U-M and co-corresponding author of the study published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

Transcript

00:00:03 On screen text: This tiny patch could detect signs of skin cancer within 15 minutes. Designed by U-M Engineering researchers, this non-invasive method that proved successful in mice could detect melanoma in the early stages. And it could be performed at home, without the need to visit a clinic. It’s made of microneedles that press into the surface of the skin. The needles are coated in a gel that attracts and binds to cancer indicators within the top-most layer of skin. It’s then put in a solution and applied to a test strip which will reveal a positive or negative result. Next up, the researchers are planning to move into human clinical trials.